Happy Discharge Day!

Well, we’ve made it to another milestone. Becky’s been released from rehab. I have to say, this day and the days leading up to this have come with as much stress as there has been at almost any other stage of this journey. It’s a lot. We are not simply returning to normal. We are just marking the point of starting another stage - one that may be harder in some ways because we’re not just sitting back while Becky’s being taken care of. We are now responsible for a whole list of new things that we haven’t been responsible before.

Unfortunately, we’re not headed back to Georgetown yet. The transplant team wants us to hang around Dallas for another week or so to make sure we have all the things and all the knowledge we need during this stage, and that there are no medical surprises without 24 hour nursing care. Looks like that will also mean a week without any therapy while we’re in the hotel in Dallas but we may have a few appointments to go to so that may be our therapy for the next week or so.

We’re expecting plenty of therapy once we get back to Georgetown. Becky will have out-patient therapy but we don’t have a specific schedule or location just yet. Since I will likely need to start spending time going into the office for work in the near future, we may need to enlist some help for getting Becky to those appointments. Worst case, we may need to hire a caregiver to help us transition. We’ll see how things play out. It’s hard to not plan ahead, but it’s hard to plan ahead with so many unknowns.

Becky still has a feeding tube since her appetite hasn’t decided to return. That means she’ll be getting her nutrition and most of her medications via that tube. That may also be a schedule challenge depending on whether Becky is comfortable administering her own meds, and her ability to do so. We have a lot to learn. It’s all a bit overwhelming. No, check that. It’s a lot overwhelming.

Becky’s strength and her ability to be independent continue to improve, but they are small steps. She still has a fair amount of difficultly getting up from a low chair. She can walk the halls at the hospital OK, but it’s a slow process and she has to take breaks. She still has a lot of work to do to build her strength and endurance back up to where the walker and wheelchair can be donated to somebody else in need. That will be another milestone.

If all goes well, we should be back in Georgetown sometime in the next week or so. We continue to be humbled by all that are following our story, thankful for all the medical professionals, and appreciative of all the support. We also continue to ask for prayers as we figure out how to navigate the logistics of this next phase - especially in light of the fact that it looks like my employer is running out of remote work tasks for me.

We’re looking forward to seeing some of you in the near future!

P.S. It’s a good thing I wrote most of this as a draft over the weekend, because today was incredibly busy and we didn’t get to the hotel after 7:00 tonight!